Concepts for the Dual Forms

Joannes Richter

Abstract
According to Languages with dual number the dual form has been found in Germanic languages
such as Old Icelandic, Old Norse, Old English, North Frisian, Gothic and Old Dutch, which had
been isolated outside the Roman empire.
The personal pronouns of the 1st person dual wit, wut or wat are found at the beginning of the
Futhark alphabet and correlate with the reversed word for the sky-god Tiw or Tuw respectively
Taw1.
Ancient Greek used the personal pronouns of the 1st person dual form νώ (νῶϊ), in which the dual
form deviates from the Germanic wit (ƿit), wut or wat-phrases2. A correlation to a sky-god may be
found in Αἰών (eternity, cognate with Latin aevum and English aye).
Standard Slovene has replaced the nominative dual pronouns of Common Slavic (vě "the two of
us") with new synthetic dual forms: midva/midve (literally, "we-two")[23].
In this paper the Lithuanian pronouns aš (1) – mudu / mudvi (2) – mes (3-∞) are compared to the
Slovene personal pronouns of the 1st person dual form jaz (1) – midva / midve (2) – mi / me (3-∞),
which both are comparable to the Germanic pronouns such as in English: „I“ (1) – „wit“ (2) – „we“
(3-∞).
In these concepts for the dual forms the components mud may be related to man & mes respectively
vi to vě.
In analogy to the „t“ in the Old-English and Gothic dual pronoun „wit3“ as well as in Dutch „wut“,
the „d“ in mudu / mudvi may have been considered as marker for the duality concept.
All of these Germanic dual forms such as Old Icelandic, Old Norse, Old English, North Frisian,
Gothic and Old Dutch are related to „Teiwaz“, respectively „Tiw“. The non-Germanic languages
(Greek, Proto-Slavic, Sorbian, Slovene, Lithuanian and the Gaelic/Celtic languages) do not relate
their dual forms to the sky-god „Teiwaz“, respectively „Tiw“.

1 The Design of the Futhark Alphabet

2 The etymology of the Greek dual form νώ (νῶϊ)
3 We two; nominative dual form of iċ.
European dual forms for the personal pronouns for the first person

The Old-Icelandic pronouns

The modern Icelandic plural form of the personal pronouns ('við4' and 'þið'5) are what originally
were the dual number form.
The former personal pronouns 'vér6' and 'þér7' are now archaic and are now used for formal speech.
They are a leftover from the Old Icelandic (and Old Norse) use of a dual number for the 1st and 2nd
person pronouns:
case 1st person 2nd person
nom. vér þér
acc.
oss yður
dat.
gen. vor yðar
Table 1: Icelandic honorific pronouns (originally plural forms)
The reconstruction of the original concepts for the Icelandic personal pronouns is as follows:

1st person 2nd person

case singular dual plural singular dual plural
nom. ég, eg við vér þú þið þér
acc. mig okkur oss þig ykkur yður
dat. mér okkur oss þér ykkur yður
gen. mín okkar vor þín ykkar yðar
Table 2 Reconstruction of the original concepts for the Icelandic personal pronouns

According to The Design of the Futhark Alphabet the Old-Dutch pronoun “wut”, which is an
equivalent for the Icelandic við, had been mirrored to the sky-god's name “Tuw”. Both keywords
“wut” and “Tuw” are found at the beginning of the runic Futhark-alphabet.
In Old-English the dual personal pronoun ƿit had been mirrored to the sky-god's name “Tiƿ” (→
“Tiw”). This symbolism may also be identified in the original Icelandic language and other
Germanic languages.
The original dual form við of the Icelandic personal pronoun of the 1 st person may be mirrored as
“ðiv”, which also may be interpreted as “Tiv” or “Tiw”.

The Old-Norse pronouns

The Old Norse pronouns closely follow the original concepts for the Icelandic personal pronouns:
ek (1: „I“) – vit (2: „we two“) – vér (“we”) (3-∞). In analogy to the Old-Icelandic and Old-English
language the dual form vit may be mirrored to “Tiv” or “Tiw”.

4 (modern personal pronoun): we, nominative plural form of the personal pronoun ég meaning “I”
5 (modern personal pronoun): you (pl.), ye; nominative plural of the personal pronoun þú meaning "you"
6 (archaic) First person plural pronoun; we (singular ég, eg).
7 (archaic) Second person plural pronoun of þú
The Old English pronouns
The Old English pronouns for the first person use Ƿē (wē) as a dual form.
Case Singular Plural Dual
Ƿē (wē)
Nominative ic, īc ƿit
(“we”)
Accusative mec, mē ūsic, ūs uncit, unc
Genitive mīn ūre uncer
Dative mē ūs unc
Table 3: The Declension of the Old English personal pronouns ic, īc
Iċ is the subject (nominative) form, as opposed to me, which is the objective (accusative and dative)
form.
The plural ƿē (“we”) is correlating to ƿit (Old English wit (“we twain”, “we two”). In Old-English
the dual personal pronoun ƿit had been mirrored to the sky-god's name “Tiƿ” (→ “Tiw”).
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm claim that the letter “T” in “wit” (“We two”) refers to the duality of the
word “we” as the plural form for the personal pronoun for the first person. Grimm's entry is found
in the plural “wir” (“we”-section) of his “German Grammar”8.
The Old English correlations suggest:
• The dual form ƿit is derived by adding a “t” to the plural ƿē.
The Old English pronouns are: Iċ (1) – Ƿit (2) – Ƿē or wē (“we”) (3-∞).
The same pattern in using objective me-forms in Slovene and Lithuanian personal pronouns
motivated me to consider the usage of the letter “D” in Lithuanian word mudu as a dual marker and
the mu-section of mudu as an objective (accusative and dative) form such as me in English.

The Gothic pronouns

The Declension of the Gothic personal pronouns uses wit as a dual form:

First person
Case
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative ik wit weis
Accusative mik ugkis uns, unsis
Genitive meina ugkara unsara
Dative mis ugkis unsis, uns
Table 4 The Declension of the Gothic personal pronouns ik

The Gothic personal pronouns are: ik (1) – wit (2) – weis (“we”) (3-∞).

8 “Neben der pluralform steht im älteren germ. der dual wit (t ist angehängte zweizahl) 'wir beide', vgl. got. ags.
asächs. wit, anord. vit (viþ), der sich auf deutschem boden nur im nordfries. erhalten hat, sonst durch den plural
ersetzt und schon ahd. nicht mehr bezeugt ist; vgl. lit. vèd.
(Source → wir, (pronoun). in Deutsches Wörterbuch by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm).
The Upper Sorbian pronouns
The Declension of the Upper Sorbian personal pronouns uses mój as a dual form.
The Upper Sorbian pronouns are: ja („I“, 1) – mój („we two“, 2) – my (“we”) (3-∞).

Upper English
Sorbian
ja I singular
ty you singular
wón he singular
wona she singular
wono it singular
wone it singular

mój We two Dual → mój (14.4) pers ;

form
wój You Dual
two form
wonej They Dual
two form

my we Plural > → my (14.4, 25.5) pers pron; 9

2
wy you Plural >
2
woni they Plural >
2
wone they Plural >
2
Table 5 Declension of the Upper Sorbian personal pronouns

9 14. Gegenwart der Zeitwörter der a- und i-Beugung, das Zeitwort byæ ,sein`
The Lithuanian pronouns
The declension of the personal pronouns of the 1st person dual form mudu is defined as follows:

singular dual plural

“I” “we two” “we”
nominative àš mùdu m, mùdvi f mẽs
genitive manęsę mùdviejų mūū sų
dative mán mùdviem mùms
accusative manè mùdu m, mùdvi f mùs
instrumental manimì, manimę mùdviem mumìs
locative manyjè, manỹ mùdviese mumysè
Table 6 The Declension of the Lithuanian word mudu

In analogy to the Old-English personal pronouns the Lithuanian language also uses an objective
root (accusative and dative) form mán and a nominative form àš which are equivalents of Old-
English me respectively iċ or īc.
In order to understand the dual form mudu (m.)/ mudvi (f.) of the Lithuanian pronouns aš (1) –
mudu / mudvi (2) – mes (3-∞) it is necessary to compare this pronoun tot the Slovene variants,
which had been derived from the Slavic standard equivalents.
Another declension of the dual for Lithuanian pronouns is found in vèdu („we two“) and jùdu („jou
two“)10.

The Slovene pronouns

In analogy to the Old-English personal pronouns the Slovene language11 also uses an objective root
(accusative and dative) form mid and a nominative form jaz which are equivalents of Old-English
me respectively iċ or īc.
The Slovene pronouns are: jaz (1) – midva / midve (2) – mi / me (3-∞).
Standard Slovene has replaced the nominative dual pronouns of Common Slavic vě12 "the two of
us", va "the two of you", ja/ji/ji "the two of them" [m./f./n.]) with new synthetic dual forms:
midva/midve (literally, "we-two"), vidva/vidve, onadva/onidve/onidve.[23] 13

10 Wij twee | Taaldacht: De oorspronkelijke, Oudgermaanse vormen zijn nooit opgeschreven maar luidden
waarschijnlijk *wit ‘wij twee’ en *jut ‘jullie twee’ – met de t van de wortel van twee. Ze gaan gaan samen met onder
meer Litouws vèdu en jùdu terug op nog oudere, Proto-Indo-Europese vormen.
11 located at Dual (grammatical number)
12 From Proto-Indo-European *wḗ/*wéh₁ (“we two”), the nominative dual of *éǵ(h₂), *eǵHóm, *eǵóh₂ (“I”).
13 Standard Slovene has replaced the nominative dual pronouns of Common Slavic (vě "the two of us", va "the two of
you", ja/ji/ji "the two of them" [m./f./n.]) with new synthetic dual forms: midva/midve (literally, "we-two"),
vidva/vidve, onadva/onidve/onidve.[23] (source: Slovene (at Dual (grammatical number))
The Slovene word midva seemed to consist of 2 sections, both of which decribe a „we“-root:
1. the „mid“-section, derived from the plural mi („we“) and
2. the „va“-section, derived from Common Slavic vě14 ("the two of us")

singular dual plural

m midva mi
1st person jaz
f medve, midve me

m vidva vi
familiar ti
f vedve, vidve ve
2nd person
m vi vidva vi
polite
f vi vedve, vidve ve

m on onadva oni
3rd person f ona onedve, onidve one
n ono onedve, onidve ona
Table 7: Slovene personal pronouns
In analogy to the Slovene concept the Lithuanian word mùdvi (f.) seemed to consist of 2 sections,
both of which decribe a „we“-root:
1. the „mùd“-section, derived from the plural mẽs („we“) and
2. the „vi“-section, derived from Common Slavic vě ("the two of us")
These correlations may also be compared in the Declension tables for the dual forms of the
Lithuanian word mudu / mùdvi:

singular dual plural

“I” “we two” “we”
mùdu m,
nominative àš mẽs
mùdvi f
genitive manęsę mùdviejų mūū sų
dative mán mùdviem mùms
mùdu m,
accusative manè mùs
mùdvi f
instrumental manimì, manimę mùdviem mumìs
locative manyjè, manỹ mùdviese mumysè
Table 8 The Declension of the Lithuanian word mudu
In analogy to the “t” in the dual form of the Old-English personal pronoun of the 1st person “wit”15
the letter “d” in “mudu” may refer to the “duality” - marker.

14 From Proto-Indo-European *wḗ/*wéh₁ (“we two”), the nominative dual of *éǵ(h₂), *eǵHóm, *eǵóh₂ (“I”).
15 Jacob Grimm claims that the letter “T” in “Wit” (“We two” as the dual for for the personal pronoun for the first
person) refers to the duality of the word “we” as the plural form for the personal pronoun for the first person.
Grimm's entry is found in the plural “wir” (“we”-section) of his “German Grammar”: Neben der pluralform steht im
älteren germ. der dual wit (t ist angehängte zweizahl) 'wir beide', vgl. got. ags. asächs. wit, anord. vit (viþ), der sich
auf deutschem boden nur im nordfries. erhalten hat, sonst durch den plural ersetzt und schon ahd. nicht mehr
bezeugt ist; vgl. lit. vèd. Source → wir, pron. (In Deutsches Wörterbuch by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm).
The Gaelic pronouns
Reconstructed Common Celtic nominal and adjectival declensions contain distinct dual forms;
pronouns and verbs do not.
Gaelic has singular and plural personal pronouns (i.e., no dual forms). Gender is distinguished only
in the 3rd person singular. A T-V distinction is found in the 2nd person, with the plural form sibh
used also as a polite singular.[6]
The Gaelic personal pronouns are: (1) mi, (2) - - , (3) sinn

Simplidh
Emphatic English
Simple
1st mi mise "I, me"
thu thusa
Familiar "you"
2nd tu tusa
Singular
Respectful sibh sibhse "you"
Masculine e esan "him"
3rd
Feminine i ise "her"
1st sinn sinne "we, us"
Plural 2nd sibh sibhse "you"
3rd iad iadsan "they, them"
Table 9: Personal pronouns in Gaelic

(source: Personal pronouns in Scottish Gaelic grammar - Wikipedia)

Comparison of the dual forms and the correlation with the sky-god
Comparison of the dual forms between ancient Greek, Upper Sorbian, Slovene, Lithuanian, Old
English, Gothic and North Frisian reveal:
• In ancient Greek the first person pronouns are: ἐγώ (1), νώ, νῶϊ (2), ἡμεῖς (3-∞).
• The Upper Sorbian pronouns are: ja (1) – mój (2) – my (“we”) (3-∞).
• the Slovene pronouns are: jaz (1) – midva / midve (2) – mi / me (3-∞)
• the Lithuanian pronouns are: aš (1) – mudu / mudvi (2) – mes (3-∞)
• the Old-Icelandic pronouns are: ég, eg (1) – við (2) – vér (“we”) (3-∞).
• the Old English pronouns are: Iċ (1) – Ƿit (2) – Ƿē or wē (“we”) (3-∞).
• The Gothic personal pronouns are: ik (1) – wit (2) – weis (“we”) (3-∞).
• The North Frisian pronouns are: ik (1) – wat, wët (2) – wy (“we”) (3-∞).
• Reconstructed Common Celtic nominal and adjectival declensions contain distinct dual
forms; pronouns and verbs do not. The Gaelic personal pronouns are: (1) mi, (2) - - , (3)
sinn.

Language Singular Dual form Plural (> 2) Sky-God Sky-God

(“I”) (“we two”) (“we”) (theory)
1 Ancient Greek ἐγώ νώ, νῶϊ ἡμεῖς ϊῶν → Αἰών (?)
1 Boeotian ἰώ (iṓ), ᾱᾱμές ϊῶν → Αἰών (?)
ἱών (hiṓn) (hāmés)
1 Proto-Slavic *(j)azъ, *ja vě *my ěv → Tiw (?)
2 Upper Sorbian ja mój my → Αἰών (?)
2 Slovene jaz midva / midve me Av, ev → Tiw (?)
2 Lithuanian aš mudu / mudvi mẽs U, iv → Tiw (?)
vèdu
3 Old-Icelandic ég, eg við vér Ðiv → Tiw
3 Old Norse ek vit vér Tiv → Tiw
3 Old English iċ ƿit ƿē (wē) Tiƿ → Tiw
3 Gothic ik wit weis Tiw → Tiw
3 North Frisian ik wat, wët 16 wy Taw, Tëw → Tiw
17 18
3 Old Dutch ic wut, wit wij, we Tuw, Tij → Tiw
4 Gaelic / Celtic mi --- sinn ---
Table 10 Comparison of the dual forms in Slovene, Lithuanian, Old English, Gothic & Sorbian

16 Wut in Vergeten woorden – W | Taaldacht

17 Wut in Vergeten woorden – W | Taaldacht wut vnw., wit 1 wij twee, wij beide • verouderd Noordfries wat, wët,
IJslands við • vgl. °onk1 ‘ons twee’, °jut/°jit ‘jullie twee (onderwerp)’, °ink1 ‘jullie twee (voorwerp)’
18 Tíu Tuw Tij m., de naam van Vader Hemel, de heer des rechts en oorspr. oppergod die door Wódan werd
verdrongen, betekent letterlijk ‘Hemelse, God’, vgl. Oudnoords týr ‘god’, Latijn deus ‘god’ en zie Alamard, Metod,
Sahsnôt en Thingso • Oudengels Tíw Tíg, Oudhoogduits Zíu, Oudnoords Týr (Germaanse namen | Taaldacht)
Only the Germanic languages (in this table represented by Old Dutch, Old Norse, Old-Icelandic,
Old English, Gothic, North Frisian samples) represent a successful correlation between the dual
form of the personal pronoun for the 1st person and the sky-god's name Tiw.
The ancient Greek dual form of the personal pronoun for the 1 st person may be correlated with the
sky-god's name Αἰών.
The Proto-Slavic vě, Sorbian mój, Slovene midva / midve, Lithuanian mudu / mudvi do not really
convince met to suggest a correlation with a sky-god's name Tiw19 or Αἰών.
A number of rules may be derived from this overview.

• Old Dutch wut, wit, ic, wij, we, Old Norse vit, ek, vér, Old-Icelandic við, ég, eg, vér,
English Ƿit, Iċ, Ƿē, Gothic wit, ik, weis and North Frisian wat, wët, ik, wy represent
common bases for Germanic languages.
• The Germanic languages share the wit, við, Ƿit, wat, wët-roots with the Slovene and
Lithuanian cores mid, mud .
• In wit, við, Ƿit, wat, wët, vèdu and mid, mud the letter d / t is considered as a marker for
duality.
• The plural Proto-Slavic *my refers to the plural for Upper Sorbian my, Slovene me,
Lithuanian mes, Gaelic / Celtic “mi”.
• The singularis *(j)azъ, *ja , Aš and Iċ may be correlating.
• The Celtic languages (→ mi, sinn) do not seem to be involved in the dual concepts.

Shared concepts
Correlations are:
1. The Greek dual form νῶϊ (we two) and Sorbian mój (we two)
2. The plural Proto-Slavic *my, the Sorbian plural my, the Slovene plural me, the Lithuanian
plural mes (sharing the symbolism with mój ?).
3. Sorbian Ja, Slovene jaz, and Lithuanian aš
4. The Slovene and Lithuanian words vèdu, midva / midve and mudu / mudvi
5. Old Dutch wut, wit, Old-Icelandic við, Old English Ƿit, Gothic wit, North Frisian wat, wët 20
6. Old Dutch ic, Old-Icelandic ég, eg, Old English Iċ, Gothic ik, North Frisian ik
7. Old Dutch wij, we, Old-Icelandic vér, Old English Ƿē (wē), Gothic weis, North Frisian wy
Obviously the correlations suggest to form 3 dual form concepts, in which common attributes and
symbolisms have been shared.
• The Sorbian dual form mój (we two) is related to the Greek word νῶϊ (we two).
• The plurals Proto-Slavic *my, Sorbian my, Slovene me, Lithuanian mes may share the
symbolism with mój (?).
• The Slovene and Lithuanian cores mid va / mid ve and mud u / mud vi are equivalents as
well as vèdu, va, ve, u and vi.
• Old-Icelandic við, ég, eg, vér, English Ƿit, Iċ, Ƿē, Gothic wit, ik, weis and North Frisian wat,
wët, ik, wy represent common bases for Germanic languages.
• Aš and Iċ , Ég, Eg may be correlating.
• Obviously The Celtic languages do not share these dual-related symbolisms.

19 Tiw → Týr, a Norse god. (Tiw is the Old English spelling) Corresponding names in other Germanic languages are
Gothic Teiws, Old English Tīw and Old High German Ziu and Cyo, all from Proto-Germanic *Tīwaz.
20 Wut in Vergeten woorden – W | Taaldacht
Personal pronouns 1st person in Singular, Dual and Plural

1: Personal pronouns 1st person in Singular, Dual and Plural

Appendices

Appendix I: The Declension of the Lithuanian personal pronouns21

The roots “mud” in the dual forms mudu and mudvi seem to be derived from the plural mes and an
appended gender section “-u” (male) respectively “-vi” (female):

Case Singular
1. Person 2. Person 3. Person
male female
Nominativ aš tu jis ji
Genitiv manęs tavęs jo jos
Dativ man tau jam jai
Akkusativ mane tave jį ją
Instrumental manimi tavimi juo ja
Lokativ manyje tavyje jame joje
Case Dual
1. Person 2. Person 3. Person
male female male female male female
Nominativ mudu mudvi judu judvi juodu, jiedu jiedvi
Genitiv mudviejų judviejų jųdviejų
jiedviem, jodviem,
Dativ mudviem judviem
jiemdviem jomdviem
Akkusativ mudu mudvi judu judvi juodu, jiedu jiedvi
jiedviem, jodviem,
Instrumental mudviem judviem
jiemdviem jomdviem
mudviese,
Lokativ judviese, judviejuose juodviese jiedviese
mudviejose
Case Plural
1. Person 2. Person 3. Person
male female
Nominativ mes jūs jie jos
Genitiv mūsų jūsų jų jų
Dativ mums jums jiems joms
Akkusativ mus jus juos jas
Instrumental mumis jumis jais jomis
Lokativ mumyse jumyse juose jose
Table 11 The Declension of the Lithuanian personal pronouns
(source: Wiktionary, → Litauische Personalpronomen)

21 According to the source in: Litauische Personalpronomen

Appendix 2: The Baltic Swadesh lists
The Baltic languages seem to have shared the singular and plural pronouns of the first person:

No. English Lithuanian Latvian Latgalian Samogitian Old Prussian

singular 1 I aš es es, aś aš as
2 you (singular) tu tu tu to tū
3 he jis viņš jis ons tāns

plural 1 we mes mēs mes, ḿaś - mes

2 you jūs jūs jius jūs jūs
3 they jie viņi jī anėi tenei
Table 12 The Baltic Swadesh lists (source Wiktionary)
Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................1
European dual forms for the personal pronouns for the first person...............................................2
The Old-Icelandic pronouns........................................................................................................2
The Old-Norse pronouns.............................................................................................................2
The Old English pronouns..........................................................................................................3
The Gothic pronouns...................................................................................................................3
The Upper Sorbian pronouns .....................................................................................................4
The Lithuanian pronouns............................................................................................................5
The Slovene pronouns.................................................................................................................5
The Gaelic pronouns...................................................................................................................7
Comparison of the dual forms and the correlation with the sky-god...............................................8
Shared concepts...........................................................................................................................9
Dual Forms for personal pronouns 1st person in Singular, Dual and Plural.............................10
Appendices.....................................................................................................................................11
Appendix I: The Declension of the Lithuanian personal pronouns .........................................11
Appendix 2: The Baltic Swadesh lists......................................................................................12